Sarah Sjöström
Sarah Fredrika Sjöström (Swedish::; born 17 August 1993) is a Swedish compe*ive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She is the current world record holder in the 50-meter freestyle (long course), the 100-meter freestyle (long course), the 50-meter butterfly (long course), the 100-meter butterfly (long course), and the 4×50-meter medley relay (short course). She is a former world record holder in the 50-meter freestyle (short course), 100-meter freestyle (short course), 100-meter butterfly (short course), and 200-meter freestyle (short course). She is the first Swedish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming.She won the Overall Swimming World Cup in 2017 and 2018 and she has won 10 individual World Championship gold medals. She currently represents Energy Standard in the International Swimming League.
Sjöström is the only female swimmer to win five individual medals at a single FINA World Aquatics Championships and as of 2019 has won a total of 16 individual medals at long course World Championships, more than any other female swimmer in history. Only Michael Phelps has won more individual medals (20). In 2021, Sjöström achieved a career total of over 1000 most valuable player points in the International Swimming League and became the first swimmer in history to do so.
Contents
- 1 Career
- 1.1 2008–2009
- 1.2 2010–2011
- 1.3 2012 Summer Olympics
- 1.4 2013–2015
- 1.5 2016 Summer Olympics
- 1.6 2017–2019
- 1.7 2020–2021
- 1.7.1 2021 World Short Course Championships
- 1.8 2022
- 2 Personal bests
- 2.1 Long course (50 m)
- 2.2 Short course (25 m)
- 2.3 World records (50 m)
- 2.4 World records (25 m)
- 3 International championships (50 m)
- 3.1 International finals (50 m)
- 4 International championships (25 m)
- 5 Accomplishments and awards
- 5.1 Awards
- 6 Personal life
- 7 See also
- 8 References
- 9 External links
Career
2008–2009
On 22 March 2008, at the age of 14, Sjöström took the gold medal in women's 100:m butterfly at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with a time of 58.44 seconds. In the semi-finals the day before, she set a new national record of 58.38 seconds, breaking Anna-Karin Kammerling's previous record of 58.71 seconds. At the same event in the Swedish championships in 2008, she finished with a time of 58.55.
Sjöström earned a spot on the Swedish Swimming Team for the Beijing Olympics, where she finished 27th in the preliminary heats of the 100m butterfly with a time of 59.08 and 29th in the preliminary heats of the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:02.38, failing to advance to the semi-finals in both races. She also swam the backstroke leg on the medley relay in which the Swedish team qualified in seventh place for the finals, though the team was disqualified in the final for an illegal relay take-off. The day of the medley relay final coincided with Sjöström's 15th birthday.
On 26 July 2009, at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Sjöström set a world record in the semifinals with a time of 56.44, surp*ing Inge de Bruijn's nine-year-old record. On the next day, in the finals for the women's 100:m butterfly, she won the gold medal and improved her world record time to 56.06.
2010–2011
At the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, she defended her 2008 gold medal by winning the women's 100:m butterfly stroke. In December 2011 She broke the Swedish record when she won the 100m freestyle at the Open Dutch Championships in Eindhoven. However, she failed to win a medal at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai.
2012 Summer Olympics
See also: Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics2012 was a year of both successes and setbacks. At the early summer European Championships in Debrecen, Sjöström swam home double gold in the 50 butterfly and 100 meters free.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Sjöström competed in four individual events, reaching the semi-finals of the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle and 200 m freestyle, and finishing 4th in the final of the 100 m butterfly in a time of 57.17. Sjöström's world record was broken in this race by Dana Vollmer of the United States. In 2015 however Sjöström regained the world record by improving it twice at the World Championships in Kazan.
2013–2015
At the 2013 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Herning, Denmark Sjöström won four individual and two team medals.
Sjöström at the 2015 European Short Pool ChampionshipsOn 5 July 2014 Sjöström broke the world record in the 50mbutterfly (long course) with a time of 24.43. The large margin of 0.64 seconds by which she broke the old record has been compared with Bob Beamon's 1968 long jump world record.
At the 2014 European Aquatics Championships in Berlin later that summer Sjöström won three gold and four silvermedals. On 18 August, she and the rest of the Swedish relay team won gold in the 4x100 freestyle and the next day she also won the final of the 50m butterfly. On 20 August, the she won a new gold medal, this time in the 100 m freestyle. During the championships, she won a total of seven medals, including silver in the 4 × 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 50 m freestyle and 4 × 100 meters medley.
At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships she won five medals, including gold medals in the 50m and 100m butterfly events, during the latter she broke the world record twice. She went on to win her third medal when she won her first world championship gold in the long track in the 50m butterfly.
Sjöström also became the first Swedish swimmer to win two world championship gold medals during the same long track championships. The final championship day ended with a bronze in the 50m freestyle and a silver in the team race in the 4 × 100 meters medley. Thus Sjöström won medals in all four individual starts, and in the three team races there was a silver and two fourth places. In all, she won two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal during world championship week; more medals than any Swede has previously won at the same world championships. In 2015 she was received the Jerring Prize and a Victoria Scholarship.
In 2015, Sarah Sjöström was named the first Swedish swimmer by Swimming World Magazine to be named "Swimmer of the Year in Europe"; she was also awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year", with the words "For explosive willpower, double world records and a historic gold cavalcade".
2016 Summer Olympics
See also: Swimming at the 2016 Summer OlympicsOn 25 January 2016, Sjöström was awarded the Swedish public radio Jerring Award for the second year in a row.
On 7 August 2016 Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Olympics, setting a World record with a time of 55.48. When Sjöström went on to win silver and bronze medals in the 200 m and 100 m freestyle respectively, she became the second woman in history and the fifth swimmer overall, following Mark Spitz (1972), Kornelia Ender (1975, 1976), Matt Biondi (1986, 1988) and Michael Klim (1998), to win medals in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and the 100 m butterfly at the same Olympiad, or World Championships.
2017–2019
In January 2017, Sjöström competed in the 19th Luxembourg Euro Meet and won the 50 m freestyle event with a time of 24.01, the 100 m freestyle event with a time of 53.21, the 50 m butterfly event with a time of 25.02, and the 100 m butterfly event with a time of 57.12. In April 2017 Sjöström competed in the Stockholm Swim Open and won the 50 m butterfly event with a time of 25.63. She also won the 100 m butterfly event with a time of 56.26. She also won the 50 m freestyle event, setting a time of 23.83, the second fastest time ever. In the 100 m freestyle event she won first place with the time of 52.54, a new personal best and Swedish (national) record.
At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Sjöström won five medals, the most for a woman in individual events at this Championships. She won a gold in 50 m butterfly, which is the third consecutive gold she has won in this event at the Championships; two silvers (in 100 m butterfly and 50m freestyle); and two bronzes in 100m and 200m freestyle.
She was named FINA female swimmer of the meet, which she also won in 2017.
In the summer of 2017 Sjöström broke four world records in two weeks (in Budapest and later at World Cup compe*ions in Moscow). As a simultaneous holder of eight world records on the short and long course, she became the most record holder in international swimming. In early August Sjöström improved her time in the 50 m freestyle on the short course, at races in Berlin, from 23.10 to 23.00. In the race, however, she was second behind Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who with the time 22.93 took from Sjöström one of her eight records.
In the Autumn of 2019 she was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League competing for the Energy Standard Swim Club of which she was co-captain (with Chad le Clos). The team won the overall *le in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December. At the first stop on the league in Indianapolis, USA she won the MVP *le am*ing 55.5 points over the compe*ion, and after the final in Las Vegas, she was named overall MVP with 243.5 points over the season. During the inaugural ISL season she won the 50m Freestyle three time (Indianapolis, Naples and Las Vegas), the 100m Freestyle twice (Indianapolis and Naples), the 50m Butterfly three times (Indianapolis, Naples and Las Vegas), and the 100m Butterfly in Indianapolis. She also won the 50m Freestyle Skins event three times - in (Indianapolis, Naples and Las Vegas).
2020–2021
In the 2020 International Swimming League season Sjöström placed 5th overall in points in 2020, due in part to a back injury that made her sit out of a full match. She ranked second to Caeleb Dressel in points-per-match with 59.4, noted 16 individual wins, including three in the skins. And while neither were official world records, Sjöström also featured on Energy Standard’s women’s and mixed 400 free relays that were both the fastest of all-time.
Due to a broken elbow Sjöström accidentally obtained by falling on ice in February 2021, she did not compete at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships. She returned to training in the pool in March and to compe*ive swimming in early June ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics. In the 50 metre freestyle at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, *an, and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sjöström won the silver medal. The persistence Sjöström demonstrated in working through her elbow injury and winning a medal at the Olympic Games earned her the "Olympic Resilience Award" for the 2020 Summer Olympics from Swimming World. In her other events, Sjöström placed fifth in the 100 metre freestyle, fifth in the 4×100 metre medley relay, sixth in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and seventh in the 100 metre butterfly.
At the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships held at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan, Russia in November, Sjöström competed in nine events, winning four gold medals, one each in the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, 50 metre butterfly, and 100 metre butterfly, a silver medal in the 4×50 metre medley relay, and a bronze medal in the 100 metre individual medley as well as placing fourth in the 4×50 metre mixed medley relay and the 4×50 metre mixed freestyle relay and fifth in the 4×50 metre freestyle relay.
In the 2021 International Swimming League, Sjöström became the first swimmer in history, male or female, to achieve over 1000 most valuable player points as part of their time competing in the International Swimming League, out-ranking the second-ranked Caeleb Dressel by over 50 points. Sjöström won most valuable player honors both for the entire 2021 season and for the 2021 final match. For the whole 2021 season, Sjöström was the top-earning athlete, winning $269,125 in the form of prize money, which was over $70,000 more than the next-highest-earning athlete Siobhan Haughey.
2021 World Short Course Championships
For the 2021 World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in December, Sjöström entered to compete in the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, and 50 metre butterfly individual events. In the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, Sjöström swam on both the prelims and the finals relay, helping to win the bronze medal in the event in a time of 3:28.80, which was the first time she won a medal in the event at a world or European short course championships. Sjöström won her heat in the prelims with a time of 52.21 seconds in the 100 metre freestyle on day two, finishing 0.17 seconds ahead of Kayla Sanchez of Canada and qualifying for the semifinals ranked second overall. Later in the day, in the final of the 4×50 metre medley relay, Sjöström split a 23.96 for the butterfly leg of the relay to help win the gold medal and tie the world record and championships record at 1:42.38. The same session, she ranked first in the semifinals of the 100 metre freestyle with a 51.53 and qualified for the final the following day.
In the morning of day three, Sjöström qualified for the semifinals of the 50 metre butterfly ranking first with a time of 24.92 seconds. Sjöström won the silver medal in the final of the 100 metre freestyle later in the day with a time of 51.31, finishing less than four-tenths of a second behind gold medalist Siobhán Haughey of Hong Kong. For the semifinals of the 50 metre butterfly, she qualified for the final ranking second with a 24.94. In the final the following day, Sjöström won the silver medal with a time of 24.51 seconds. The fifth morning, Sjöström advanced to the semifinals of the 50 metre freestyle ranking first by over three-tenths of a second with a 23.31 in the prelims heats. In the semifinals she swam one-hundredth of a second faster, qualifying for the final with a time of 23.30 seconds.
On the sixth and final day, Sjöström led-off the 4×50 metre freestyle relay with a 23.50 in the prelims, helping qualify the relay to the final ranking third. In her first final of the evening, Sjöström helped set a new Swedish record of 1:34.54 and win the silver medal in the 4×50 metre freestyle relay with a lead-off split of 23.33 seconds. For her next race, the 50 metre freestyle final, Sjöström won the gold medal and set a new Championships record of 23.08 seconds, breaking the former record of 23.19 set by Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands in 2018 by over one-tenth of a second. In her final event of the championships, Sjöström split a 54.65 for the butterfly leg of the 4×100 metre medley relay, helping win the gold medal in a new European record time of 3:46.20.
At the end of 2021, Sjöström was the only swimmer to rank in the top ten internationally in two or more individual long course metre events for 11 or more consecutive years, 2021 inclusive, ranking in the top ten in the 100 metre freestyle for 12 years and the 50 metre butterfly and 100 metre butterfly for 13 years. Additionally, Sjöström was tied with Katie Ledecky for number two in terms of total number of individual world records set in the 21st century, each having achieved 14 individual world records, and was six world records behind number one ranked Katinka Hosszú.
2022
In January 2022, Sjöström was announced as one of the team Sweden members pre-nominated for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.
Personal bests
Long course (50 m)
WR award in Kazan 2015Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Swedish record;Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial
Short course (25 m)
Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Swedish record;Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial
World records (50 m)
World records (25 m)
International championships (50 m)
a Sjöström swam only in the heatsb Team Sweden was disqualified in the finalInternational finals (50 m)
Only individual
International championships (25 m)
Accomplishments and awards
Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100 m butterfly at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics on 7 August 2016, setting an Olympic and World record with a time of 55.48.She also won a gold medal in 100 m butterfly in the World Championships in Rome 2009 and set the world record.
Awards
- 2014: The Swedish Jerring Award
- 2015: The Swedish Jerring Award
- 2015: Female European Swimmer of the Year, announced by Swimming World Magazine
- 2015: The Swedish Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
- 2015: The Victoria Award
- 2017: The Swedish Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
- 2017: Female World and European Swimmer of the Year, announced by Swimming World Magazine
- 2017: Best Female Athlete from Europe, announced by *ociation of National Olympic Committees (ANOC)
- 2017: Female European Swimmer of the Year, Swammy Award announced by SwimSwam
- 2018: Female European Swimmer of the Year, Swammy Award announced by SwimSwam
- 2019: MVP in International Swimming League
- 2021: Olympic Resilience Award, announced by Swimming World for the 2020 Olympic Games
- 2021: MVP in International Swimming League entire season
- 2021: MVP in International Swimming League final match
- 2021: Female European and International Swimming League Swimmer of the Year, announced by Swimming World Magazine
- 2021: Female European Swimmer of the Year, Swammy Award announced by SwimSwam
- 2021: Best Female Swimmer, awarded by Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN)
Personal life
In January 2022, Sjöström announced her engagement to her boyfriend of ten years, Swedish fencer Johan de Jong Skierus.
See also
- World record progression 50 metres freestyle
- World record progression 100 metres freestyle
- World record progression 200 metres freestyle
- World record progression 50 metres butterfly
- World record progression 100 metres butterfly
- List of individual gold medalists in swimming at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships (women)
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
- List of World Swimming Championships (25 m) medalists (women)
References
External links
- Sarah Sjöström at FINA
- Sarah Sjöström at SwimRankings.net
- Sarah Sjöström at Olympics.com
- Sarah Sjöström at Olympedia
- Sarah Sjöström at the Swedish Olympic Committee (in Swedish)
- Official website